It’s definitely time to start planning the garden! Along with that comes any container gardens you want to plant this year. Want to add a little charm to your garden this year? Instead of just using plain old pots for your container gardens, give one of these re-purposed container ideas a try. Now is a great time to round up those old items you want to re-purpose!

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. An Old Bicycle~ Add a container to the seat, or attach an old basket to the front of the bike then plant flowers around it.

2. An old tea pot or cooking pot.

3. An old chair~ Cut a hole in the center and add your planter.

4. An old wooden barrel

5. An old wheelbarrow~ Just add dirt!

6. Old apple crates

7. Some old shoes or boots~ You can arrange them on the sides of your walkway or stairs.

8. An old milk container

9. An old claw foot bath tub.

10. An old wash basin

What interesting re-purposed containers have you used to hold your container garden? Can you add any to my list. I know there are a ton more ideas out there!

I just found out the Monarch Butterfly is on the Top 10 Most Threatened Species of 2010 list, because of the use of chemical pesticides, and many of their habitats are in jeopardy.

I love watching the Monarch Butterflies in my garden during late summer, so I always plant a few plants just for them, and any other butterflies I can attract to my backyard garden. Since I’ve been fairly successful at attracting them, I thought I’d share a few plants you might want to add to your garden this summer to attract a few butterflies of your own.

Plants to create a butterfly habitat in your backyard:

• Milkweed is the most important plant for the Monarch Butterfly, they lay their eggs on the milkweed plant, and it’s the only plant their larvae will eat. Pesticides, and ditch mowing have cut back the supply of mikweed considerably. If you have a place to let it grow in your backyard plant a few seeds, and watch the butterflies come.
• Thistle is another butterfly favorite.
• Butterfly bush
• Bee balm
• Russian sage
• Butterfly weed
• Yarrow
• Shasta daisies

Most of these are easy to grow perennials, once you plant them they’ll keep coming back year after year to feed your butterfly population. Just make sure you don’t use any chemical pesticides that might harm your butterfly friends.